Aguja Guillamet

[Written by Elizabeth Leonardis for our old blog, So Civilized]

The Fall colors were a wonderful way to start our big climb

Once we arrived in El Chaltén, we hooked up with our guide Manuel and starting discussing plans for our big climb of one of the local mountains, Aguja Guillamet (2579m). Manuel owns and operates El Chaltén Mountain Guide and from the very beginning he exceeded all our expectations. Manuel spent hours prior to the climb discussing the route and going over gear and food for the big adventure. Using NOAA’s weather forecast, we found a 36 hour weather window where we hoped to summit. The trip began with a short drive to the trailhead at Rio Electrico bridge and started with an easy 2 hour hike to Piedra del Fraile campsite. The wind and rain had begun so we held out for a few hours at Piedra del Fraile hoping the weather would pass. There didn’t appear to be much clearing so we set out in the wind and rain for a 3 hour hike of 1000 meters in switchbacks. We reached the bivi site known as Piedra Negra and quickly set up camp in the harsh Patagonia wind. We were beginning to question the NOAA forecast. A delicious pasta meal and off to bed for an early 3am start.

Our first stormy view of Guillamet from our bivi site

We awoke at 3 am after a windy night in the tent and listened as the wind continued to pound our tent. We weren’t hopeful about attempting the summit in this wind, but over the next 45 minutes the wind completely ceased, just as NOAA predicted. We now felt pretty confident about the predicted weather forecast for our summit day. We left camp around 4:30am and the approach was made mostly in the dark, as the sun didn’t rise until around 8:30am. The approach included crossing a small glacier section and some 4th class scrambling. We reached Amy Couloir just before sunrise which was to be the start of our route to the top.

Sunrise from Amy Couloir

The couloir was 4 pitches of 45-50 meters. The only technical sections consisted of a bergschrund at the very beginning, which sometimes is impassable, and a short mixed section on the last pitch. Otherwise, the climbing was pretty straightforward with the only intimidating factor being our incredible height and exposure. Manuel lead all pitches with relative ease and confidence, as well as speed.

Climbing Amy Couloir

View down Amy Couloir

Me (Elizabeth) a little intimidated by my height and exposure in the couloir

At the top of the couloir there was a small ledge where we could grab a cliff bar and begin the 4 rock pitches that were between us and the summit. In previous climbs, at this point Manuel had been able to take his crampons and boots off and switch into rock shoes. However, on this day there was a lot of snow and ice that had filled in a lot of the cracks that normally provide good hand holds and easy protection placement. Therefore, we kept our crampons on for the first few moves before switching into our rock shoes. All the rock pitches are rated 5.5-5.8, although with the ice on the rock and filling some of the cracks, it was a bit more challenging. We completed the first 3 pitches of rock over the next few hours.

Climbing the 2nd pitch of rock

Manuel anchored on a ledge

Belaying Manuel as he lead one of the rock pitches

On a ledge that lead from the 3rd-4th pitch, we were faced with an ice covered ledge where one normally finds rock. Plus, the crack that we needed to climb was filled with ice and snow. At this point is was time to admit defeat as it would have taken too much time and would have been too dangerous had Manuel tried to climb that last pitch. After that last pitch it would have been just a short 10 minutes walk to the summit. So we had turned around just about 50 meters from the top. However, Alex and I were thrilled with what we had accomplished and had an amazing day.

Alex & I at the highest point of the day

Manuel, our guide, showing some of the ice that ultimately kept us from the summit

As many of you know, going up is only half the climb and it was now time to safely get off the mountain. We began the 3 rappels that took us off the rock, followed by 4 pitches in the couloir. Many of the anchors in the couloir were either covered or too high to access so Manuel was forced to build a few anchors to be left behind for rappelling.

Me (Elizabeth) rappelling off Guillamet

Alex & I anchored on Guillamet before rappelling down

Rappelling Amy Couloir

Nevertheless, we successfully rappelled the couloir and began the arduous hike back down to camp through frustrating scree. Luckily, since we had begun our climb down around 2:30pm, we gave ourselves time to get almost completely back to camp before darkness fell.

Hiking down the last part of the couloir (you can see the berschrund behind us)

The silhouette of the Fitz Roy range

Back at camp we all fell quickly asleep and didn’t wake up for 12 hours. Well rested and happy from our incredible climb the previous day, we made our way back to the trailhead where Manuel’s car patiently awaited us. I snapped off a few more photos of camp and Guillamet before we left, as the weather had significantly improved since our arrival.

The bivi site with Guillamet towering in the distance

I think that I can speak for both us, when I say this adventure was one of the best experiences of our lives. We learned a lot from Manuel and were able to really push ourselves and see what we are capable of accomplishing on a mountain. Anyone that finds themselves in the El Chaltén area and is interested in doing a big climb, should definitely contact Manuel. He currently has a website (www.ecmg.com.ar) and by next season will have a shop on the main drag of El Chaltén. Thank you Manuel for an amazing experience!